LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — It was a rivalry renewed as Kentucky’s alumni basketball team hung on to take down Louisville’s alumni team, The Ville, in Game 1 of a best-of-three series, 71-68.

The Ville came out hot, grabbing a 21-17 lead before La Familia got going, thanks to non-alumni member Sean McNeil and UK legend Andrew Harrison, who helped lead a 24-point second period and take a 41-33 halftime lead.

La Familia extended its lead to as many as 17 points in the third quarter before The Ville managed to go on a 13-0 run to make it a four-point game going into the Elam Ending.

With a target score set at 71, both teams needed one more basket with La Familia leading 70-68. After some key defensive stops, Kentucky sealed the win with a clutch inbound play from Khalil Whitney to Darryl Morsell for the game-winning dunk.

Morsell led all scorers with 17 points while adding five rebounds and three assists. Andrew Harrison chipped in 14 points, Sean McNeil scored 12 off the bench, and Chris Coffey grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

“It’s defense, rebounding and paint touches. I mean, everything else takes care of itself.
I mean, it’s a bunch of effort as well. We know what they’re going to run. We know how they’re going to guard it. It’s you have one day. I’m a former. I’m a former small college coach. You can’t change everything in a day. So they know what we’re going to do. We know what they’re going to do, and it’s going to be nothing that I can draw up or the coaching staff can scheme. The players win games. They went out and won it; that’s all it was,” La Familia head coach Jon Hood said.

La Familia will travel to Louisville to take on The Ville inside of Freedom Hall on Monday at 7 p.m. for Game 2 of the series.